Energetic dream

Power crisis? I think it’s actually an intelligence crisis. More alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear power exist than people are being led to believe by the government and power industries.

“Deregulation” of solar and wind power seems logical and economically and environmentally beneficial, rather than letting the polluting power industries vacuum up California’s resources and money!

The president only refers to alternative energy sources when his opinion polls show him slipping due to his energy policy while Governor Gray Davis must now handle problems we could have avoided.

California is the sixth largest economy in the world, a world leader in development of environmental technology, movies, computer applications and hardware, and which indeed consumes energy unlike any other place in the world.

We already know about the most common ways renewable energy can be harnessed—from solar collectors to wind turbines—but when do we hear about these technologies being installed into the power grid?

Implementing high-efficiency, eco-friendly technology and empowering conservation throughout the state of California would do a lot of good.

Perhaps we could be tapping into the natural energy of the tides, or even solar power satellite farms that beam energy down to earth.

The cars of the future will run on renewable fuels from which hydrogen can be extracted in fuel cells, the most controversial fuel being hemp. Wouldn’t the growing of industrial hemp undo the loss of land experienced by farmers all over the country, as well as serve all kinds of biodegradable uses? Hemp is an amazing plant! Why is it taboo? Is it because of the drug war and the potential hemp might have to maybe get some unwitting persons illegally high after smoking the leaves from rows of hemp stalks, or is it the fact that a hemp revolution would be a swift and well-measured blow to the oil, coal, natural gas and plastics industries?

My favorite energy concept is this: what if we developed special surfaces to replace sidewalks and highways, a kind of energy-absorbing recycled rubber, to create electricity from our natural activities, like walking, running and biking? These walkways could generate power in homes and malls, anywhere people expend natural energy. Even better, if a child fell, it wouldn’t hurt so bad!

It seems we’re wasting energy just talking about this instead of doing something new and innovative. The last thing we want is to one day become fossil fuel ourselves! It’s time to realize our potential, and the wrong time to pollute the earth.